Rock on at the Agate & Mineral Show this weekend!

This weekend marks the 61st year of the Agate & Mineral Show at OMSI. Presented by the Oregon Agate & Mineral Society (OAMS) visitors can enjoy a wide array of beautiful cabochons (cut, shaped, and polished rocks) including agate, jasper, and obsidian from the northwest. Special features include:

The Oregon State Seal made from a large variety of Oregon stones including the Sun Stone, the Oregon State gem. The food table showcases rocks that look like food. Can you identify the “food” that these rocks have formed? Frank Springer, a retired Portland Police Officer and lapidary hobbyist, is a lifetime OAMS member. He built several scale models, including Cinderella’s Coach below, using semi-precious stones such as jade, agate, rose quartz, and petrified wood.

The Agate & Mineral Show runs today through Sunday, February 12 in the OMSI auditorium. In addition the displays, OAMS members will be on-site demonstrating the equipment and process used to prepare rocks for display. These include a big saw used to cut slabs, a trim saw used to create a design, a grinder to shape the specimen and a polisher to put the finishing touches.

The OAMS has been a long-time partner of OMSI and proceeds from the Agate and Mineral Show are donated to OMSI’s Hancock Field Station located in Central Oregon’s John Day River Valley, an area world renowned for its fossil-rich rock formations and fosters geology learning.

We hunted sun stones back in 1980's. What a beautiful stone that is found best early in the morning as the sand on the desert starts to dry out and crack. Little shiney sparkling stones and sometimes large ones show themselves just at the tip. What beautiful fire and color are within. Will be wonderful to see these at the show. If it's worth seeing OMSI will have it!!